The Nanny and the Governess
by rebecca-in-blue
Summary: "I had to read this when I was your age." When Emma has to read Jane Eyre for school, Jessie realizes that she has a lot in common with the title character.


Okay, so technically, this isn't a crossover fic, because the characters from _Jane Eyre_ don't appear in it. But I cross-posted it to both fandoms anyway because I hope that a few _Jane Eyre_ fans might enjoy it. They lived centuries apart on different continents, but I think the heroine from the classic novel and the girl from the Disney Channel have some important things in common.

(For my own reference: 78th fanfiction, 2nd story for_ Jane Eyre_, 1st crossover fic.)

* * *

"This is _totes_ lame," Emma announces with a dramatic sigh, as she stomps into the living room, where her little sister and nanny are sprawled out on the couch, watching after-school cartoons.

"Think we should ask her?" Jessie asks, glancing sideways at Zuri.

"Might as well," Zuri sighs.

"Okay, Emma," Jessie asks, turning to face her, "what's totes lame?"

"_This_ is," Emma declares, and she flops down beside them on the couch and holds up a book. Jessie sits up straighter when she sees the title. _Jane Eyre_.

"We're all supposed to, like, read this thing for English class," Emma tells them, "and just look at the size of it! How am I ever going to finish all this? And plus, check out this chick's wardrobe." She points to the cover art, which features a painting of Jane Eyre in an drab, old-fashioned black dress. "I mean, where did _she_ go shopping?"

"Aw, that book doesn't look so bad, Emma," Zuri says, waving one hand. "Heck, most of the Harry Potter books are bigger than that, and I read all seven of them."

Emma smirks. "Well, I wish this was Harry Potter, Zuri, but it's not. There's no magic spells, no Lord Voldemort..."

"Don't say his name!" Zuri shrieks.

"...no cool wizard boarding school, no cool _anything_."

"Well, there _is_ a boarding school, actually," Jessie puts in, "but it definitely isn't Hogwarts."

Emma ignores her. "Ooh, I know!" she exclaims. "I'll just watch the movie instead!" With that, she pulls her cell pone out and begins typing on it.

Sometimes, Emma can make Jessie feel so _old_. Emma can download cheat notes for _Jane Eyre_, or even one of the movies, onto her phone with just a few taps. Jessie had to read _Jane Eyre_ for high school too, but back then, if she wanted cheat notes or the movie, she had to wait for her dad to drive her to the bookstore or the movie rental place... and she couldn't know for sure if either one would even carry it.

After a few minutes of typing and searching on her phone, Emma says, "Wow, it looks like this has been made into a movie lots of times."

Jessie smiles. "Well, maybe that's because it's a pretty interesting book. I had to read it for class when I was in high school."

"Ooh, and the last movie had Michael Fassbender in it!" Emma squeals. "He's _totes_ hot. Now, if I can just find a link to download it..."

"He must've played Mr. Rochester."

Emma tears her eyes off her phone and looks over at Jessie. "Mr. Rochester?" she repeats, finally showing an interest in _Jane Eyre_ for the first time. "Who's he?"

"Oh, he's just the love interest," Jessie says casually, and now she has Emma's undivided attention. The romance columns in her teen magazines make her go starry-eyed over any love stories. Now that she's got Emma listening, Jessie decides to start with a proper description of _Jane Eyre_. "See, the book is about this woman named Jane Eyre - I mean, obviously - and she's really plain, which is a nice way of saying she's not pretty. She's an orphan, and her family hates her, and when she grows up, she gets a job as a governess."

"A gover-what-now?" Zuri asks, tilting her head to one side. Jessie can tell that she's interested in _Jane Eyre_ too, because she's clicked the cartoons to mute.

"A governess. It's an old word that meant... well, it actually meant a nanny, sort of."

"So, she was a nanny?" Emma asks, starting to look bored again. "Like you?"

"Yeah, and you know something else? It was the first job she got when she got of school too, just like me." Jessie pauses, remembering when she first came to New York City and got hired by the Rosses, and how grown-up and independent she'd felt. Thornfield House was definitely no New York City, but Jessie was sure that Jane had felt the same way when she finally left that awful school behind her and got hired by Mr. Rochester.

"Was Jane Eyre a nanny for an _adorable_ little girl, too?" Zuri asks, grinning her sweetest smile - the one that she always uses when she wants her parents to buy her a new stuffed animal.

Jessie smiles. "Yes, as a matter of fact, she was a nanny for an adorable little girl named Adele."

"Like the singer?" Emma asks, at the same time that Zuri begins humming "Set Fire to the Rain." All three of them love Adele's music.

"Right, like the singer. It's a French name... um, I think. And you know what else? Adele was adopted, too."

Zuri's brown eyes grow wide with wonder. "Really? Just like me!" she exclaims. "Was Adele adopted domestically or internationally?" Zuri has always been proud of being adopted, and when she talks about the subject, she can sound almost like a grown-up.

Emma smiles at her little sister's enthusiasm, but says with a slight scoff, "Zuri, people didn't _do_ international adoptions back then."

"Well, actually," Jessie says, "Adele _was_ kind of adopted internationally. She was from France, and then Mr. Rochester adopted her and brought her to live in England with him." Jessie paused, trying to sort out the details. If she remembered right, Mr. Rochester had actually taken Adele in as his ward because he thought that he _might_ be her biological father, but he was never sure because her mother had slept with practically every man in Paris. Jessie decided to skip that part. "And then he hired Jane to be her governess and teach her to speak English."

"And Mr. Rochester," Emma asks eagerly, "he's, like, totes cute, right?"

"Well... no, actually," Jessie admits, "he's kinda plain-looking, like Jane." Emma looks disappointed, so Jessie rushes on, "But that's not the _point_. The _point _is that he and Jane have this almost, like, psychic connection to each other, right from the beginning, and he's all mysterious, and she's all intrigued. But Rochester is sorta dating this other woman, who's actually only into him for his money..."

"Ew, I _hate_ people who only like you for your money," Emma puts in, pouting. She might only be in high school, but her family is so rich that she's already known her share of gold-diggers.

"...but he has these conversations with Jane, like they're equals, which is a huge deal because he's her employer, and there were all sorts of class boundaries back then." Jessie lowers her voice for a more dramatic effect. "Rochester has this gigantic house, Thornfield Manor, way out in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes at night, Jane hears this really creepy laughter echoing down the halls."

Emma and Zuri are both hanging on her words now, wide-eyed, and Jessie stops, enjoying the effect. When she doesn't go on, Emma demands, "Well? What happens? Is the house haunted? Do Jane and Rochester get together?"

Jessie smiles smugly. "If you really want to know, you should read the book," she answers, and Emma looks down at the book in her hands with a different, less disdainful expression, then gets up from the couch and hurries upstairs to her room.

Much later that evening, Jessie goes to Emma's room to tell her to turn her light off and go to bed, but when she sticks her head in the door, she sees Emma sitting up in bed against the pillows, and instead of her usual fashion magazine, she's reading _Jane Eyre_ with rapt attention. It looks like she's already a few chapters in. Jessie smiles proudly, and she wonders if this is the same pride that Jane felt when Adele did well at her lessons, when she actually _enjoyed_ learning. She feels certain that it is, and she tiptoes back out of Emma's room without saying a word.

**FIN**


End file.
